A cold front was first situated to the southeast of the area during the morning, but shifted slightly northward through the day, while an upper level disturbance rotated moved over the region. Residual moisture in the area kept dewpoints elevated throughout the day, and clearing skies led to increasing instability.
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Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.
The episode as NWS RNK wrote it up.
A cold front was first situated to the southeast of the area during the morning, but shifted slightly northward through the day, while an upper level disturbance rotated moved over the region. Residual moisture in the area kept dewpoints elevated throughout the day, and clearing skies led to increasing instability. This set up led to an isolated severe thunderstorm along the southern Blue Ridge in the North Carolina foothills.
The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
NWS Blacksburg, VA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Sep 12, 6:50 PM EST, 19 hours 20 minutes earlier.
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</html>The Roanoke radar (KFCX), 102 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 19:09 UTC.
1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Thunderstorm winds downed a couple trees onto a power line on West Main Street near Edgewood Drive. Another tree was downed by thunderstorm winds in the vicinity of Hugh Chatham Hospital.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in North Carolina in 2023Every state in 2023This day in weather historyWarnings in North Carolina, September 2023
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-30. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 1140997.